Lubrication



Dec. 2l, 1954 E, H, KQCHER 2,697,493

LUBRICATION 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 Original Filed A ug. 5, 1940 www ATTO RNEYSLUnnicArIoN Edward H. Kocher, Boonton, N. J., assigner to Auto ResearchCorporation, a corporation of Delaware ifiginal application August 3,1940, Serial No. 350,653. Divided and this application `ianuary 24,1947, Serial No. 723,925

s claims. (ci. 124-6) The present invention relates to improvements inlubricating installations, and it particularly relates to 1ubricatinginstallations adapted for utilization in lathes and other machine tools.

It is among the objects of the present invention to provide improvedlubricated machine tools, particularly those having sliding bearings,such as lathes, in which the various bearings will be automaticallylubricated, including the ways and apron bearings, and in which thelubricating installation will be substantially completely concealed,durable and give, assurance of proper supply of lubricant to thebearings without attention from the operator and Without overflow oflubricant.

Still further objects and advantages will appear in the more detaileddescription set forth below, it being understood, however, that thismore detailed description is given by way of illustration andexplanation only and not by way of limitation, since various changestherein may be made by those skilled in the art without departing fromthe scope and spirit of the present invention.

in accomplishing the above objects, it has been found most suitable toprovide a relatively small compact reciprocatory pump in a chambersubstantially at the bottom of the apron thereof, which will feedlubricant to a junction, which in turn will have tubing or conduitconnections to the ways and other bearings in and about the mechanism tobe lubricated.

Associated with such junction or with the bearings will be highrestriction metering fittings which will serve to proportion thequantity of lubricant supplied to the bearings.

In the drawings, which show one of the various forms of the presentinvention, but to which the invention is by no means restricted, sincemany changes and alterations may be made therein all within the scope ofthe present invention.

Fig. l is a side perspective view of the lathe to which the lubricatinginstallation of the present invention may be most satisfactorilyapplied,

Fig. 2 is a transverse sectional view parallel to the main axis of thelathe showing the reservoir constructiondin the apron and some of thebearings to be lubricate Fig. 3 is a top view upon the line 3 3 of Fig.2,

Fig. 4 is a side sectional view upon the line 4 4 of Fig. 2,

Figs. 5, 6, 7 and 8 are respectively side sectional views upon the lines5, 6 6, 7 7 and 8 8 of Fig. 3,

Figs. 9 and 10 are diagrammatic detail enlarged sectional views,indicating the manner of sealing the passages across the parts to belubricated,A

Figs. 1l and 12 are respectively longitudinal sectional views throughtwo types of ow metering fittings employed in the distributing systemshown in Figs. 1 to 8,

Fig. 13 is a longitudinal sectional view of junction type or reverse owmetering unit upon an enlarged scale as compared to Figs. l to 8.

Referring to Fig. 1, the lathe is provided with a base structure 10carrying the ways 11, which in turn support the carriage 12 having theapron 13.

The carriage 12 carries the transverse structure 14, which in turnsupports the tool carrier 22.

The lathe is provided with the head stock 15, the various drivingmechanisms of which are concealed in the casing 16. The levers 17 and18, 19 and 20, and the arrangement 21 enable control of the speed ofrotation and transverse of the lathe mechanism.

States Patent() ice In the lower portion of the structure 13 of Fig. 1is positioned the pocket 23, which serves to receive lubricant and whichis provided with an oil window 24.

The structure 25 is also provided with a pocket 26 having oil window 27to enable gauging depth of the lubricant therein.

The bearings primarily to be lubricated are those on the ways 11 formedby the sliding members 28 and those formed by the sliding structures 29and 30. The entire carriage 12 may be traversed by the handrwheel 31,while the tool carrier 14 may be traversed by the hand wheel 32.

lt is to the lubrication of the bearings associated with the carriage 12that this invention will be particularly directed, although it is to beunderstood that the installation set forth in the present application isalso applicable to the lubrication of other machine tool structures.

The interior of the apron structure 13 is best shown in Figs. 2 and 4.

1t will be noted that the bottom of the apron has the walls 50 and 51,to which is connected the pocket member 23 having the bottom wall 54 andthe rear wall 5S.

The recess 52 below the lter unit 58 attached to the pump 57 forms apocket for sludge or other foreign matter.

Attached to the rear wall 55 by the bracket 56, is the pump 5.7 havingthe inlet strainer 58, the inlet check valve 59 and the reciprocatingelongated unpacked plunger 60 and the outlet ball check unit 61.

The bracket 56 carries the pump 57 through its leg 62, and the pump 57is connected thereto by the nuts 63.

The bracket 56 has the outstanding side portions 64 (see Fig. 2), whichare bolted at 65 and fixed by dowel pin 65a to the wall 55, and it isalso provided with an upper leg 66 which forms a bearing for theconnecting rod 6,7. The pump or plunger shaft 67 is shouldered at 68 andabove its shoulder it has a washer 69 against which reacts a spring 70.The upper end of the spring 70 reacts against the leg 66.

The spring 70 tends to press the plunger rod 67 and the plunger 60downwardly to discharge position. The plunger rod 67 is actuated fromthe oscillatable shaft 71 which extends through a structure 72 in thefront wall S5 of the apron. The collar 73 fixed on said shaft 71 by thekey 74 is provided with a clevs member 75 which lits below said shoulder68 of the plunger rod 67. The oscillatable shaft or shifter lever rod 71is operated to cause engagement of a feed screw and feed nut to effectmovement of the carriage. The shaft or rod 71 cannot rotate completelydue to the collar 73 and clevis 75. The shaft or rod 71 may be referredto hereafter either as a shifter shaft or a shifter lever rod. The feedscrew and nut construction which is actuated by the rod or shaft 71 isnot shown or described.

The rotating of the shaft 71 in starting the feed will ordinarily liftthe plunger 60 of the pump 57, drawing a charge through the filter 58.This charge ordinarily will vary between 5, to 25 drops of oil, with anoptimum of about 12 drops of oil.

Upon reversal of the motion of the shaft 71 when the feed is stopped,the plunger will be lowered by the stressed spring 70, which will causea discharge of oil past the outlet check valve 61 at a pressure of about5t) poundsl per square inch at normal room temperature.

The volume of the oil delivered by the pump 57 will always be constantregardless of temperature, oil viscosity and other factors, since alixed volume pump is utilized.

The outlet tube 75 leads from the ball check 61 to the junction 76 whichis bolted at 77 to the wall 78 of the pocket in the reservoir. Thejunction is provided with two restricted outlets 79 and 80 and the twounrestricted outlets 81 and 82.

The. restricted outlets 79 and 80 are formed in part by the flowmetering fittings of the type illustrated in Fig. 13, having a body 83,a bore 84 substantially fully restricted by the pin 85 forming a verynarrow annular crevice of the order of one or several thousandths of aninch having a substantially greater ow restricting effect than thetubing ory the bearings. There is also provided Patented Dec. 2l, 1954'having the oblique end faces.

an inlet vfllter or strainer 86 in an inlet socket 87. The fitting has acoupling connection at its outlet end 90 to the tubes 91 and 92. Aspring seated valve 88 is disposed in socket 89 in said outlet end.

l Tubes 91 and 92 feed metered or proportioned quantities of lubricantto the gear trains through the drip portions 93 and 94 (as shown in Fig.2). The tubes 91 and 92 are clipped at 95 and 96 to the upper portion 97of the side Wall of the apron.

The unrestricted tubing connections 98 and 99 are connected by the elbowadaptor 100 and 101 to the bore systems within the upper portion of thecarriage of the lathe.

As shown best in Fig. 5, the elbow adaptor 100 fits in the space 102 atthe top of the apron and just below the carriage where it feeds the bore103, which in turn connects to the transverse vertical bore 104. Thisvertical bore 104 communicates with bore 105 in the upper portion of thecarriage structure with a lubricant-tight seal being made by the washer106.

Figs. 9 and 10 show the manner of forming this seal' in which one of thecontacting faces 107, as shown in Fig. 9 is recessed at 108 around thebore 105 and receives a frusto-conical sealing washer 106 having acentral bore 110.

It will be noted that the lower face 111 of this compressible washer 106projects substantially below the face 107 of the carriage and the face112 of the apron 13 is pressed up against the face 111 of the washer106. When this happens, the washer 106 will be expanded sidewardly intothe recess 108 to fill the same and form a lubricant-tight seal.

The compression and sealing of the washer 106 takes place automaticallyupon assembly of the carriage and the apron and this avoids the need oftubing connections with the corresponding difficulty of assembling anddis assembling such units. The washer 106 may be readily inserted inrecess 108 without difficulty before assembly.

The bore 105 (see Fig. 5) communicates with the transverse passage 113,which is plugged at 114 and is substantially completely filled with thefiller pin 115 The bore 113 feeds the socket 116, the lower end of whichis widened and threaded at 117 to receive the threaded head 118 of theiiow metering fitting 119.

In Fig. 1l is shown the flow metering fitting of Fig. 5, in which thelubricant flow takes place toward the threaded head 118.

It will be noted that the threaded head 118 has a pipe thread so thatwhen tightened it will automatically be lubricant tight.

The end of the head 118 is provided with a illister slot 120 enabling itto be screwed into the socket 116. The body 119 is provided with a bore121, which is substantially completely filled by the pin 123 forming avery` narrow'annular crevice of the order of one or several thousandthsof an inch having a substantially greater ow restricting effect than thetubing or the bearings.

In the inlet socket 124 is positioned the strainer 125 and in the outletsocket 128 is a check valve 126 which is pressed against the seat by thespring 127. The lubricant after passing the ow metering unit 119, asshown in Fig. 5, will be at a relatively low pressure and it will not benecessary to provide a seal or gasket, such as 106. The lubricant willthen drip directly into the recess 129 in the upper portion of the apronstructure, which is provided with a depending drip pipe 130 whichpermits lubricant to drip upon one of the gear trains.

Communicating with the bore 113 is also the transverse bore 140 (seeFigs. 2 and 3), which is plugged at 141 in the end of the carriage. Thisbore feeds two sockets 142 and 143, which are sealed at 144 and 145 andthe outlets of which are restricted by the ow metering fittings 146 and147. The ow metering units 146 and 147 differ from the metering unit119, as shown in Fig. l1 in that the threaded connection 148 is at theinlet end rather than at the outlet end, and this pipe threaded head 148will seal the inlet end of each socket 142 and 143.

This reversed unit is shown in Fig. l2. The other parts of the unit ofFig. 12 are the same as those of Fig. 1l and are indicated by the samenumerals.

Beyond the units 146 and 147 are positioned the bores 149 and 150 (seeFig. 3).

The bore 149 has the capillary openings 151 (see Fig. 3), which feedlubricant to both sides of thepeak of the way 11 in the manner shown bythe corresponding capillary passages 207 which are fed from the meterunit 202 and the passageways 204 (see Fig. 6). The lubricant ows downover the sides 153 of the way 11 to assure thorough lubrication thereof.

The other passage feeds lubricant to the upwardly extending small bore154 (see Fig. 8), which feeds lubricant to the grooves 155, which inturn supply lubricant to the bearing face surface 156, which in part ofthe bearing of the cross slide.

A tube 157 is placed in the cross slide 14. The tube 157 will receivelubricant from the grooves 155 and will in turn feed it to the reservoiror groove 158 formed in the upper face 159 of the cross slide 14.

The lubricant will fill up the small recess or reservoir 158 which, inturn, has an overflow tube 160 with small bore fitting into the verticalpassageway 161 therein. The upper end of the small bore tube is belowthe upper end of the tube 157. The lubricant will flow down into therecess 162, where it will be supplied to the corner 163 of the crossslide bearings and then flow over the bearing faces 175 and 156 whichare to be lubricated.

The lubricant from the small reservoir 158 will ow through the groove orrecess 165 to feed the overflow small bore tubes 166 and 167 fitted inthe recesses 168 and 169 in the cross slide 14.

The lubricant which overflows through the tube 166, will feed the feedscrew nut bearing (not shown), while that which overflows through thetube 167 will feed the corner 170 of the cross slide bearing, fromwhence 1ubricant will pass to the faces 171 and 172.

The upper ends of the tubes 160, 166 and 167 are all at the same leveland the small bores are of the same diameter and the same length so thatthe overow which takes place in these tubes will all be aboutsubstantially the same.

At the other side of the carriage, as shown best in Figs. 2, 3, 6 and 7,the lubricant will pass from the adapter fitting 101 to the verticalbore 185, past a gasket 186 :gf the same character as the gasket 106shown 1n Fig.

Lubricant will then flow into the transverse bore 187 which is pluggedat 188 and from this header will iiow into the sockets 189, 190 and 191,the outlet of each of which is sealed by a metering unit 192, 212 and194 of the same construction as already described in connection withFig. ll. i

The lubricant from the header 187 will also ow into the transverse bores195 and 196 (see Fig. 3), which 'are substantially completely filled bythe pins 197 and 198 and plugged at one end by the plugs 199 and 200.The bore 195 is provided with the connecting passageway 199:1. Thepasageways 197 and 198 are sealed by the flow metering restriction units201 and 202, which are of the same construction as already described inconnection with Fig. l2.

The plugs 144, 145, 199 and 200 may be removed where it is desired toremove or replace the metering units 146 and 147, 201 and 202 (see alsoFig. 3). This is best shown in connection with unit of Fig. 6.

Referring to Figs. 3 and 6, beyond the units 201 and 202 the passageways203 and 204 receive the lubricant and are filled by the filler members205 and 206 to reduce the volume of the passageway, which must be filledwith lubricant.

As shown best in Fig. 6, the passageway 204 feeds the two small orcapillary bores 207 which supply lubricant to the opposite faces 153 ofthe way 11 upon which the carriage 12 travels upon the bed 10.

The two passageways 207, as well as the passageways 151 in Fig. 3, arecapillary holes and since the passageways 204 and 149 are substantiallyfilled with lubricant at all times, oil will be fed to the bearings onlywhen lubricant is forced into the passageway past the metering units 146and 202 to feed lubricant evenly to the slide bearings 153 of the way11.

As shown in Fig. 7, the main feed bore 187 also feeds the bore 208plugged at 209 and having the filler pin 210 to reduce the volumethereof. The passageway 208 Ifeeds the socket 211, the outlet of whichis filled by the lmember 216 having an upper enlarged portion 217closely the vertical bore 224 and this feeds lubricant to the feed screw227. Because of the pressure of the lower end 222 of the plunger 216 onthe face 223, there wlll be little loss of oil in passing from the unit212 to the screw 227, particularly since such flow takes place w1thoutmuch pressure.

The outlet ends of the flow metering units 192 and 194, as shown best inFigs. 2 and 3, will feed the passage- Ways 242 and 243 having the `inletrecesses 244 and 245. These passageways 242 and 243 in turn feedbearings located at 240 and 241 in the mechanism.

In operation, the lubricant will be fed under pressure from the pump 57.This will force lubricant into the junction 76 from which it will be feddirectly past the metering units 79, 80 to the outlet drips 93 and 94 tofeed the gear trains.

At the same time, the lubricant will also be fed through theunrestricted outlets of the junction, as indicated at 81 and 82, Fig. 2,to the adapter units 100 and 101 where it will flow into the boresystems 140 and 187 at the opposite sides of the carriage structure 12.

The lubricant from the adapter unit 101 will flow (a) past the meteringfitting 119 to drip on one of the gear trains from the drip pipe 130;(b) past the metering unit 146 to the capillary passages 151 to the0pposite sides 153 of the way 11; and (c) through the bore 150 and theupwardly extending bore 154 to the groovesI 155 and the reservoir 158.

From the reservoir 158 it will flow through the recess 165 and overflowthrough the tubes 160, 166 and 167 to lubricate the transverse slidebearings of the cross slide and of the feed screw nut bearing of thecross slide.

From the adapter 101 the lubricant will flow past the meter units 192and 194, where it will feed bearings at 240 and 241 in the apronstructure. It will also ow past units 201, 212 and 202.

The flow metering unit 212, as best shown in Fig. 7, will feed the screwbearings 227; the flow metering unit 202 will feed the opposite faces153 of the way 11, as best shown in Fig. 6; while the passageway 203(see Fig. 3) will feed the way structure at the opposite side of thelathe.

It is thus apparent that the present applicant has provided a simple,ingenious oil distribution arrangement for a lathe, which will betrustworthy in operation, each bearing automatically receiving itsrequired oiling.

The centralized lubricating equipment is substantially altogetherconcealed, as indicated in Fig. 1, and the construction is most compactand may be assembled on the apron carriage and cross slide withoutincreasing the bulk or substantially increasing the cost of manufacture.

Each operation of the pump 57 will ordinarily supply about 12 drops ofoil into the system, which small quantity of oil will be correctlyproportioned at about 10 bearing points.

The tubing which is used is preferably for a bore of not more than 1A;of an inch, so that there will be no tendency for the air bubbles to betrapped.

With the drilled passages, however, as indicated at 149, 150, 195, 203,196 and 204 (see Fig. 3), it is.

desirable to drill larger holes of larger diameter.

Since this presents the problem of trapping of air bubbles, it isdesirable to utilize filler rods in such passageways of diameter ofabout 36,2 of an inch less than the drilled hole, as indicated, forexample, at 115 in Fig. 5, 149a, 150e, 198 and 206 in Figs. 3 and 6, and210 in Fig. 7.

The provision of passageways which are so small as to preventcountercurrent flow of air and oil combined with check valves in eachflow metering unit, as for eX- ample indicated at 88 in Fig. 13, and 126in Figs. 11 and 12, will maintain the distributing tubing and boresystem full of oil at all times both before and after the flow meteringunits, and in this way even a small quantity of oil discharged by thepump 57 into distributing system will give a definite pressure risebefore the ow metering outlet units of Figs. 11 to 13, which pressure "6will lrise as high as 40 to 50 pounds per square inch.

Even without the use of the filler rods v115, 149g, 150:1, 198, 206 and210, it will be possible to-obtain a pressure of 5 to 8 pounds persquare inch, which wlll assure the desired distribution of lubricant.

The present application is a division of application Serial No. 350,653,filed August 3, 1940, now Patent No. 2,447,509, dated August 24, 1948.

It will be understood that many changes could be made in the particularfeatures of lathe as shown, and many apparently widely differentembodiments of this invention could be made without departing from thescope thereof, and it is intended that all matter contained in the abovedescription shall be interpreted as illustrative and not in a limitingsense.

What is claimed is:

l. ln a lubricating installation for a cross slide of a lathe havingbearings to be lubricated, a recess extending over the top of the 4crossslide serving as a reservoir, means to feed said recess with lubricant,a plurality of vertical bores communicating with said recess, said boresbeing fitted with tubes having narrow capillary bores, said capillarybores extending up within said recess to serve as overflow pipes andconducting lubricant downwardly to the slide bearings of the crossslide.

2. In a lubricating installation for a cross slide of a lathe havingbearings to be lubricated, a recess extend- -ing over the top of thecross slide serving as a reservoir, means to feed said recess withlubricant, a plurality of vertical bores communicating with said recess,said bores being fitted with tubes having narrow capillary bores, saidcapillary b-ores extending up within said recess to serve as overflowpipes and conducting lubricant downwardly to the slide bearings of thecross slide, said means to feed said reservoir with lubricant includinga groove system on the bottom of said cross slide, means to feedlubricant into said groove system from the carriage, and a tubeextending up through the cross slide from said groove system to a levelhigher than the level of said downflow capillary tubes.

3. In a machine of the type comprising a bed, a carriage having a slidebearing upon said bed, an apron extending below said carriage, meanswholly confined within the structure of the machine for lubricating saidslide bearing, said means comprising a source of lubricant supply andpressure on the apron, said carriage being provided with a rising boreextending upwardly from the apron into the carriage, said bore being fedwith lubricant from a lubricant pump positioned in the apron, a gasketcompressed in a countersunk depression about the bore at the surface ofcontact of apron and carriage for effecting a lubricant-tight connectionfrom the apron to the carriage, a transverse bore in said carriagecommunicating with said first-mentioned bore, capillary outlets fromsaid transverse bore leading to said bearing, and a flow metering unitcompletely lodged in said transverse bore at a portion of the lengththereof between said rising bore and said capillary outlets.

4. In a machine of the type comprising a bed, a carriage having a slidebearing upon said bed, an apron extending below said carriage, meanswholly confined within the structure of the machine for lubricating saidslide bearing, said means comprising a source of lubricant supply andpressure on the apron, said carriage being provided with a rising boreextending upwardly from the apron into the carriage, said bore being fedwith lubricant from a lubricant pump positioned in the apron, a gasketsupported and compressed in a countersunk passage about the bore at thesurface of contact between the apron and the carriage for effecting alubricant-tight connection therebetween, a transverse bore in saidcarriage communicating with said first mentioned bore, capillary outletsfrom said transverse bore feeding said bearing, a flow metering unitcompletely lodged in said transverse bore at a portion of the lengththereof between said rising bore and said capillary outlets, and rodsfilling the major portion of the cavity determined by said transversebore.

5. In a machine of the type comprising a bed, lubricated mechanismmounted in said bed, a carriage having a slide bearing upon said bed, anapron extending below said carriage, means Wholly confined within thestructure of the machine for lubricating said mechanism and said slidebearing, said means comprising a means of lubricant supply and pressureon the apron, said carriage acca-49s being provided with a rising boreextending upwardly Ifrom the apron into the carriage, said bore beingfed with lubricant from a lubricant pump positioned in the apron, agasket supported and compressed in a countersunk passage about the boreat the surface of contact between the apron and the carriage foreffecting a lubricant-tight connection therebetween, a longitudinal borein said carriage communicating with said first mentioned bore,transverse bores in said carriage communicating with said longitudinalbore, capillary outlets from one of said transverse bores feeding saidbearing, a flow metering unit completely lodged in said latter bore, inadvance of said capillary outlets, a ow metering unit in the othertransverse bore and extending downwardly therefrom to said bed, anoutlet through said bed delivering lubricant to the mechanism in saidbed, and rods filling the major portion of the cavity determined by saidtransverse bores.

6. A lathe lubrication installation for a lathe having a plurality ofbearings to be lubricated including ways supporting a carriage having anapron and ways on the carriage supporting a transverse structure in turnsupporting a tool carrier, said apron having a lubricant-receivingpocket, a reciprocating small-diameter piston pump positioned on avertical axis in said pocket at the bottom thereof, a junction on thewall of said pocket, said apron having a shifter lever rod extendinghorizontally thereof adjacent said pump and a lever actuated by said rodto reciprocate the piston of said pump, a lubricant tubing outletextending from said pump to said junction and outlet tubes extendingfrom said junction to feied lubricant to said ways and bearings to belubricate 7. The installation of claim 6 in which said carriage 8 has aplurality of passages extending longitudinally thereof in the directionof the major axis of the lathe which receive lubricant from said outlettubes and supply lubricant to said ways and bearings.

8. The installation of claim 6 in which the carriage is provided with aseries of transverse passageways terminating in vertical recesses, saidtransverse passageways receiving lubricant from said outlet tubings andcarrying ller pins and terminating in vertical recesses substantiallyclosed off by high restriction flow metering fittings.

References Cited in the le of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS NumberName Date 531,590 Howells Dec. 25, 1894 1,257,258 Lernp Feb. 19, 19181,497,503 Greuter June 10, 1924 1,797,547 Class Mar, 24, 1931 1,850,924Day Mar. 22, 1932 1,862,488 Bijur June 7, 1932 1,885,222 Boland Nov. 1,1932 1,911,450 Kocher May 30, 1933 2,005,725 Banfield June 25, 19352,005,766 Wright June 25, 1935 2,009,429 Bijur July 30, 1935 2,079,700Archea May 11, 1937 2,140,983 Carter Dec. 20, 1938 FOREIGN PATENTSNumber Country Date 712,495 France Iuly 21, 1931

